Learning Curve

It seems that most utilities and services here are a monopoly. For instance, the electricity for all of South Africa is run by one company. At times they will decide that they need more power in a certain area and in order to do this they will shut down another area’s power all together. So at random times all of a sudden people will have no power and there’s nothing you can do about it. The same thing happens with a “geyser” (pronounced “geezer”, it was rather humorous when we heard the word for the first time); simply our water heater. At certain times of the day you might not be able to take a hot shower because all “geysers” have a remote control whereby the power company or the government can switch them off to conserve power.

Another difference here is the way you pay for electricity. In order to receive power to your home you must prepay for power. You can go to any local convenience store to do this. You pay per unit and in return they give you a receipt with a very long numeric code on it. This code is used to type into your power box at home. It will then show how many you units you have and will count down with your usage. As of today, the power expense increased by 33%. The whole of South Africa is outraged at this major jump in cost. Those that will really suffer are the very poor of South Africa. To avoid this craziness, Stephen and I stocked up last night…we should be ok till the end of the year!
One thing you all can keep praying for is that we will be able to find a reliable car at a great price. Vehicles here are quite expensive and due to the exchange rates over the last couple of months the dollar continues to decline, so we are losing buying power. In addition to this, we were not expecting to have to purchase a refrigerator and a washing machine. These two appliances, especially the fridge, as you know are typically furnished already in apartments. In order to work around this we’ll have to take money from what we were hoping to spend on a car. In the same way the Lord provided a home for us we are certain he will provide our various other needs.

Oh, that’s right we have a huge Praise! We were able to secure a house yesterday! It is exactly what we have been praying for. It has a large living room and kitchen space so that we can entertain students. It also is fairly new and in great condition. We have an amazing view of the mountains on the front side of the house and a great view of the city and ocean on the back side. We also got to meet one of our neighbors (Roxanne). Roxanne is especially sweet and I can’t wait to get to know her more. Both Roxanne and her husband, Shaun, were professional athletes at one point and Shaun even placed in the top 20 in the U.S. Ironman competition. Shaun is a real adventure man and we are hoping over time he can take us out to do some kayaking or outdoor activities.